...the radical pietists, or Separates, who wanted nothing to do with established ecclesiastical authority... they particularly condemned the veto power that ministers had in consociations over the laymen messengers; it was not right for ministers to exalt themselves above the truly converted... demanding that each applicant for church membership be able to describe his own conversion, God's proffer of grace to him. In separating and thus cutting themselves off from other New Lights, the Separates were forced to choose lay leaders as ministers and thus pay less attention to learning and more to pietistic spirit. The first separations began in 1744, and ultimately over one hundred Separate churches werre organized in Connecticut. Separatism flourished mainly in eastern Connecticut... Richard Bushman [From Puritan to Yankee], with considerable insight, has tied these separations in the area east of the Connecticut River to the turmoil there arising from conflict over land titles, currency and other issues...